


Feel It Still

by LacrymosaDiesIlla



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Adoption, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 23:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20750177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LacrymosaDiesIlla/pseuds/LacrymosaDiesIlla
Summary: After seven years of marriage and a move to Chicago, Nancy and Robin are finally blessed with their first children: an eight year old girl with some interesting idiosyncrasies and her fifteen year old brother, who would protect her with his life.





	Feel It Still

"Are you nervous?"  
  
Nancy nodded, her intricately curled hair bouncing in its ponytail. It was a big day, probably the biggest day of their lives, and they had both dressed for the occasion: hair, makeup, clothing... the whole nine yards. They looked wildly out of place in the casual little cafe, and people certainly stared, but there was no judgement in their gazes. After all, the bouquet of balloons that Robin held in her hand told the whole story with the bright bubble letters printed on their sides.  
  
'Happy Adoption Day'  
  
Robin put her free arm around her wife, squeezing her slender shoulders tightly. "I'm nervous, too," she admitted. "But we shouldn't be, it's going to go great."  
  
They had been planning for this day for over a year: working with the adoption agency, going through interviews and home inspections, just generally preparing. And now it was all coming together, they were meeting their children for the first time.  
  
At first, they had been looking for a baby. "As young as possible," they had agreed. "So we can really have them from the beginning and raise them as ours." But, over time, things had changed. They had looked through listings and had seen all the older kids, kids who had been in foster care for years, the kids who needed to stay with their siblings. Sweet kids with fully developed personalities and interests who no one wanted. It had been Nancy who first brought it up while they were lying in bed before going to sleep.  
  
"I feel bad for the older kids," she had said.  
  
Robin had felt such a relief to hear her own feelings expressed out loud. "Me too," she had agreed.  
  
And with that, they had changed their profile. They were no longer looking for babies, they wanted any child or children who wanted them. They didn't care about 'emotional baggage', they both had enough of their own to know how to work through that. And, as Robin had put it, "Every child is going to have unique challenges; Even if one of us were to give birth to a kid, that kid would require parenting, too."  
  
Eventually, the adoption agency had called them to tell them that they had an eight year old and a fifteen year old sibling pair in foster care who might have been a perfect match. They warned the couple that they would both present 'unique challenges', just as Robin had said, but the eight year old was sweet and the fifteen year old was wildly intelligent and both just wanted parents that would love them.  
  
They waited for a long time, which was expected. They were obscenely early. Finally, Robin looked towards the door and almost jumped out of her seat. "That's them!"  
  
Nancy followed her gaze hurriedly. "Oh my god, oh my god," she mumbled, her vision tunneling on the pair approaching them. They were definitely siblings - both tall, dark skinned and round faced, with black, curly hair. The little girl had an odd gait and stumbled occasionally as she walked, probably because she was more focused on the balloons than her own feet, while the teenager walked with a purposeful stride and held her hand tightly. They were accompanied by a short, stout woman who led them to the table, but neither Nancy or Robin even noticed her. They were too fixated on their children.  
  
"You must be the Wheeler-Buckley's?" the woman asked as the trio reached the table. "I'm Amanda, and these two are Jade and Jasper."  
  
At the sound of the names, Nancy felt lightheaded and grabbed Robin's hand for support. Of course, they had heard them spoken before and had been using them to talk about the pair, but it was so different to see them in person. Still squeezing Nancy's hand in her right palm, Robin reached out with her left hand to pass the balloons off to the child. "We got these for you," she offered softly. They had been warned that she didn't like loud noises, so they had to keep their voices low. "We also have presents on the table for each of you."  
  
Nancy nodded along with her wife's words, but found herself completely unable to speak. Amanda had apparently seen such reactions before, because she chuckled lightly. "Why don't we sit down?" she suggested.  
  
Nancy obliged quickly, mostly because she didn't think her jelly-legs were going to hold her much longer anyways. Robin took the seat next to her, and Amanda, Jade, and Jasper sat across from them. Both Nancy and Robin watched intently as Jade reached for the wrapped present on the table, but Jasper stopped her. "Can you use your words, Jade?"  
  
Nancy finally found her ability to speak. "She doesn't have to," she croaked hurriedly. "We know she doesn't like to speak."  
  
Amanda smiled brightly at the fact that the couple had apparently memorized each one of the girl's idiosyncrasies, but she disagreed. "We're trying to get her over that," she explained. "It's important that she learns to communicate."  
  
Nancy nodded, backing off slightly. Robin looked like she had something to say, but apparently decided not to argue with the social worker that was providing them with their children. They all waited in silence for a couple moments before Jade, in a tiny voice, asked, "May I?"  
  
"Of course," Robin said, pushing the gift towards her, while Nancy handed the other to Jasper. Both Robin and Nancy sat forward in their seats as they opened their presents. Jasper tore his wrapping paper as one would expect, while Jade undid hers methodically from the seams. Inside each was a cardboard box. Jasper put his on his lap, and looked to his sister. "Go ahead and open it," he suggested. "I wanna see what you got first."  
  
She obeyed her brother, and revealed a stuffed white cat with plush fur.  
  
Nancy explained, her voice still shaking slightly. "We heard you liked soft toys," she said, working hard to not force eye contact, another thing she knew the girl didn't like. "So we found the softest one at the store. But we'll buy you a different one if you don't like it."  
  
Jasper looked to the little girl and nudged her gently. "What do you say?"  
  
Jade stared at the plush cat as she took it out of the box and ran her hand over its back. "Thank you," she said after a long while. "Pretty."  
  
Both Nancy and Robin were relieved. As Nancy had said, they had picked the toy entirely based on softness, they didn't know if it would be the right animal or the right color, but she seemed to like it. She was entirely fixated on it as Jasper began to open his box. Inside was another box, this one bright and displaying beakers full of colorful liquids. This time, it was Robin's turn to explain. "It's a chemistry set," she said. "We read that you were into science, so we figured we could all blow some stuff up together?" She cracked a smile at that.  
  
"Cool," he replied in a low voice, flipping over the box to read the back. "Thanks, this is... Really awesome." His voice was slightly flat, and both Robin and Nancy were nervous that he didn't actually like it, but when he looked up from the box, there was a slight shine in his eyes.  
  
Everyone was silent for a long while, then Jasper finally spoke. "So, uh," he started, a little uncomfortably. "What are we supposed to call you?"  
  
Robin and Nancy looked at each other. "Well," Robin began. "I'm Robin, and this is Nancy, and you're free to call us that if you want. We're not going to force you to call us your moms or anything if you're not ready for that, but if you want to, you can."  
  
He nodded, and there was another silence until he said, "How about Mom and Momma." He pointed to Robin and Nancy respectively, and Robin couldn't help but crack a smile as she saw tears in her wife's eyes. This was going even better than expected.  
  
"Of course," Robin said, and Nancy nodded in agreement. "Whatever you want."  
  
"Where are y'all from?" he asked, looking at Amanda for validation. She nodded encouragingly, glad to hear him asking questions.  
  
"We're both from Indiana," Nancy replied. "Have you ever been?"  
  
"Never been outside Illinois."  
  
"Well, we'll take you there for holidays," Robin offered. "So that you can meet your grandparents. Thanksgiving's coming up, and then Christmas. We'll probably go there for both."  
  
"How many?" Jade spoke up, finally looking up from her stuffed animal. Jasper patted her back, congratulating her on speaking without being prompted.  
  
"How many what, dear?" Nancy asked, the pet name feeling soft on her tongue. There were still happy tears in her eyes from being called 'Momma', but she hadn't let any fall.  
  
"Grandparents," Jade clarified quietly.  
  
"Five," Robin responded. "Nancy's mom and dad, my mom and dad, and my stepdad."  
  
"You get along with your stepdad?" Jasper questioned. The conversation was slowly becoming more natural, and Amanda was beginning to sit back, allowing the kids to direct it.  
  
"Yeah," Robin said, nodding. "I didn't when I was a teenager, but I do now."  
  
"Cool," he replied. "That's cool. Glad he's not a dick."   
  
Amanda suddenly sat straight again. "Language," she corrected.  
  
Jasper wrinkled his nose. "Sorry," he mumbled, but he didn't seem so sorry.  
  
They sat there for hours, talking and gradually becoming more comfortable with one another. Jade, as expected, did very little speaking, but Robin and Nancy noted that Jasper was very good at interpreting what she was thinking and feeling from her body language. He seemed a little protective of her, very parental, and they realized that it was probably because he had spent so much time taking care of her in the foster system. Eventually, they signed the final papers, and Amanda walked with all of them to go out to their car.  
  
"You know where to call if there are any problems," she said, watching as the two kids got in the backseat. "But here's another card, just in case." She handed the slip of paper to Nancy, who put it straight in her purse.  
  
"Thank you so much, Amanda," Nancy replied, and Robin nodded in agreement. "This really means everything to us. Thank you."  
  
They got in the car - Robin driving - and started for the house. Nancy looked back at the kids. "What music do you two like?"  
  
"Jade likes pop music," Jasper suggested.  
  
"And what do you like?" Robin asked, looking at him through the rearview mirror.  
  
"I mostly listen to whatever she's listening to."  
  
"Well, we'll have to get you a music taste of your own, then," Robin teased gently. Meanwhile, Nancy began fiddling with the radio until she found a pop station. Looking back, she couldn't help but grin at the awkward way little Jade bobbed her head to the music. She had only known the girl in person for hours, but she was absolutely smitten. As they drove home, they alternated between chatting a little more and singing to songs they knew. Perhaps it would take time to really feel like a complete family, but they were well on their way.


End file.
